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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
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This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
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A computer wargame is a wargame played on a digital device. Descended from board wargaming, it simulates military conflict at the tactical, operational or strategic level. Computer wargames are both sold commercially for recreational use and, in some cases, used for military purposes.
Computer wargames derived from tabletop wargames, which range from military wargaming to recreational wargaming. Wargames appeared on computers as early as Empire in 1972. The wargaming community saw the possibilities of computer gaming early and made attempts to break into the market, notably Avalon Hill's Microcomputer Games line, which began in 1980 and covered a variety of topics, including adaptations of some of their wargames. In February 1980 Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was the first to sell a serious, professionally packaged computer wargame, Computer Bismarck, a turn-based game based on the last battle of the battleship Bismarck.[1][2]
Wargame designer Gary Grigsby joined the industry in 1982 with Guadalcanal Campaign, published by SSI.[3] It is cited as the first monster wargame developed for computers.[4][5][6] Grigsby became one of the most respected designers of computer wargames.[3] In 1997, he was described as "one of the founding fathers of strategy war games for the PC."[7] Computer Games Magazine later dubbed him "as much of an institution in his niche of computer gaming as Sid Meier, Will Wright, or John Carmack are in theirs."[8] By 1996 he had released 23 wargames with SSI,[9] including Steel Panthers, a commercial hit. In 2001, he co-founded the studio 2 by 3 Games with SSI's Joel Billings and Keith Brors, where they continued to work together on wargames.[10]
SSI and Strategic Studies Group (SSG) were computer game companies that continued the genre by specializing in games that borrowed from board and miniature wargames. The companies enjoyed a certain popularity throughout much of the 1980s and into the 1990s. TalonSoft started in 1995 with a similar focus, until purchased and later closed down by Take-Two Interactive in 2002.
Computer wargames primarily focus on simulated battles. Because it is difficult to provide an intelligent way to delegate tasks to a subordinate, war games typically keep the number of units down to hundreds rather than hundreds of thousands.[11] The amount of realism varies between games as game designers balance an accurate simulation with playability.
Units are usually scaled to be disproportionately large compared to the landscape, in order to promote effective gameplay. These games usually use a much faster time line than reality, and thus wargames often do not model night time or sleep periods, though some games apply them, they can be time-consuming.[11]
Tabletop wargames are usually categorized according to the scale of the confrontation (e.g., grand strategy wargame, strategic wargame, operational wargame, tactical wargame or man-to-man wargame). The qualifiers "real-time" and "turn-based" are not taken into account as all tabletop wargames are, by necessity, turn-based.
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
A computer wargame is a wargame played on a digital device. Descended from board wargaming, it simulates military conflict at the tactical, operational or strategic level. Computer wargames are both sold commercially for recreational use and, in some cases, used for military purposes.
A miniature wargame is a type of tabletop wargame in which military units are represented by miniature figurines on a model battlefield. These wargames are played with the primary appeal being recreational rather than operational, using model soldiers, vehicles, and artillery on custom-made battlefields, often with modular terrain, and abstract scaling is used to adapt real-world ranges to the limitations of table space. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use abstract pieces such as counters or blocks, or computer wargames which use virtual models. The primary benefit of using models is immersion, though in certain wargames the size and shape of the models can have practical consequences on how the match plays out. Models' dimensions and positioning are crucial for measuring distances during gameplay. Issues concerning scale and accuracy compromise realism too much for most serious military applications. Miniature wargames can be skirmish-level, where individual warriors are controlled, or tactical-level, where groups are commanded. Most wargames are turn-based, involving movement and combat resolved through arithmetic and dice rolls. The setting of a game determines the type of units used, with popular historical themes including WWII, the Napoleonic Wars, and the American Civil War, while Warhammer 40,000 is the leading science fiction setting. Models, historically made from lead or tin, are now typically made of plastic or resin, with larger companies favoring plastic for its mass-production advantages. While some companies sell pre-painted models, most require assembly and customization by players. In historical miniature wargames, generic models are used, but fantasy wargames, like Warhammer, feature proprietary models, making them more expensive. The community is social, with conventions and clubs playing a significant role. Painting and assembling models are integral aspects of the hobby. The hobby primarily attracts older enthusiasts due to the time, skill, and financial investment required.
Computer Bismarck is a computer wargame developed and published by Strategic Simulations (SSI) in 1980. The game is based on the last battle of the battleship Bismarck, in which British Armed Forces pursue the German Bismarck in 1941. Computer Bismarck is SSI's first game and features turn-based gameplay on a two-dimensional map of the Atlantic Ocean. The development staff consisted of two programmers, Joel Billings and John Lyons, who programmed the game in BASIC. Originally developed for the TRS-80, an Apple II version was also created two months into the process. After meeting with other wargame developers, Billings decided to publish the game as well. To help accomplish this, he hired Louis Saekow to create the box art. The first commercially published computer wargame, Computer Bismarck sold well and contributed to SSI's success. Though it received a mixed reception, the game is credited in part for legitimizing wargames and computer games.
Wargame Construction Set III: Age of Rifles 1846–1905 (or simply Age of Rifles) is a turn-based computer wargame for MS-DOS, written by Norm Koger. It was published in 1996 by Strategic Simulations. It is the third game in the Wargame Construction Set series, following Wargame Construction Set (1986) and Wargame Construction Set II: Tanks! (1994).
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.